Fire-fighting apparatus.



J. A. THOMAS.

FIRE FIGHTING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 1AN.2.1912.

Patented Sept. 7,

/N VE/VTOR JOHN A. THOMAS, or LANSING, ivrrcn'renlv.

rrnnrren rrue APPARATUS;

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatenteofSept. *7, 1915;

Application filed January 2, 1912:. Serial No. 668,824.

To all whom it. may concern Be it known that I, JOHN A THOMAS, citizen of the United. States, residing, at Lansing, in the county of Inghamand State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Fighting Apparatus, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention has reference to fire fight ing apparatus, and the invention consists specifically in an engine having a pump adapted to force the water upon the fire and a receptacle for chemical connected with the suction and supply side of the pump, and is an improvement on the means shown and described in my application for Letters Patent ofthe United States, filed October 27, 1911, andbearing Serl No. 657,031. In the said application the-chemical mixture is delivered to the stream of'water by means of a series of pumps which are designed to ac cummulate a suflicientforce to overcome the back pressure in the line of discharge and thus drive the chemical solution perforce into the outgoing stream.

The present invention contemplates the simplifying of the mechanism of the engine and its proportionate cheapening, in actual cost by dispensing with the said series of pumps and substituting a suction draft be tween the chemical supply chamber or re ceptacle and the receiving or inlet side of the engine pump. This also has the material advantage of utilizing the said pump 1 as a mixing medium for the chemical, which is drawn or sucked forward by said pump and thoroughly incorporated with the stream of water passing through the same to the hose, as also will hereinafter more fully appear.

The accompanying sheet of drawings is a representation of the mechanism directly involved in this invention and comprises a cross section of the engine pump, a sectional elevation of the chemical feed and saturating devices and the pipes and parts associated therewith and which are more or less arbitrarily disposed or related one with the other but serving present purposes.

In detail the engine pump is represented by P, and which has a casing 2 with one or more water inlet or supply connections 3 and an internal chamber 1 in which there are two rotary intermeshing members 5 supported on shafts 6 and 7 respectively, and adapted to be driven by power applied through one or the other shaft, say shaft 6. The water is pocketed in the said members or rotors and carried upabout the outside thereof next to the casing 2 and delivered to the outlet or discharge connection 8. The

said rotors are provided with a series of speed that they will create and maintain" the" highest needed pressure in the hose 10wh'at'ever such pressure may be, and the degree or measure: of pressure will be under the" control of the engineer. It isnot therefore material whether the supply of water be under" pressure; and presumably the draft upon the supply in any event will be such as to become more or, less exhaustive and therefore cause suction in the inlet; line for the water. I have therefore availed myself of this disposition or effect by arranging to take the chemicali'zed liquid from the saturating chamber 12 directly by suction l/lllOIlg ll pipe 13' to the supply or intake side of the pump, while the saturating liquid or water is delivered to the said chamber 12 from the discharge side of the pump by pipe 15.- The latter pipe has a hand controlled regulating valve 16, while delivery pipe 13 has a back check valve 17 as to the pump. These or other valves may be used in the said pipes as experience may suggest, it being of course understood that in any event the saturating chamber 12 is not intended to be filled with water at any time and in fact it has an overflow connection 18 at its top' to avoid possible backing up of the water into the chemical feed.

In the present construction I plan to use common bi-carbonate of soda as the chemical agent, and the supply is through bin or hopper 20 or other means to the cylinder or casing 21 and the worm oonveyer 22. Of course it will follow in the foregoing organization that the water delivered to the chamber 12 by pipe 15 will be chemicalized to the maximum of the outflowing stream to the fire, but that. fact will not affect saturation of the dry chemical fed to said chamber in predetermined and uniform proportions, to the end that the volume of outgoing water shall carry the same amount of chemical all thetime and in perfect admixture with the Water. Obviously the solutions cannot pass through the pump and the line of connection to the hose nozzle without becoming thoroughly mixed with the water and so that it will reach the fire under the most favorable conditions. This also is one of the advantages ofpassing the chemical solution through the pump;

1 Just what the proportions are is not a matter for consideration herein, and the rethat suction Will do the work, and as an auX- iliary to this operation I show the extremity 24 of'thedelivery pipe or connection 13 as extending into the pump casing and directly tothe immediate inlet for the Water to the rotor chamber where the suction is emphasized.- The axial'depth of the rotors may be varied, but the relation of the said extension to the said inlet is not such as to really constitute an obstruction, and constitutes the equivalent of a nozzle or nipple which might have a more or less reduced delivery.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for Of course the chemical might be delivered to the water supply at some other point than through the pump casing, and I may arpipe line 13 and drive the chemical solution into the water that passes through the main pump. All these ways have been considered and been more or less satisfactorily demonstrated in various tests.

What I claim is:

In a fire-fighting apparatus, a force pump having a pair of rotors and a single inlet, a plurality of water supply connec tions leading to said inlet and a single discharge connection for said pump, in combination with a chemical mixing receptacle having water-supply communication with the discharge connection of said pump and provided With a delivery connection for the chemical solution extending through said water supply connections directly to said inlet. a

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN A. THOMAS.

' Witnesses:

R. B. Mosnu, F. O. MUssUN.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. i 

